Friend my same age.
I have an 8 year old. Her baby is 21.
HER BABY IS 21 YEARS OLD, legal majority in all countries.
Thinking her work was finally done, my friend was on an “all night date”.
And missed the phone calls at 11 pm, 2 am, and 3 am,
From her baby,
My side hurts why?
My side hurts where are you?
My side hurts my friend is going take me to the emergency room!
My friend is the same age as me.
Lucky her kid was an independent adult.
80% of the cost of the 6-day hospital stay…
Written off…
Unusual blood clots…
My friend,
Career of women’s work…
Teaching…
BUT, not the right Union Pay Grade…
For the Good Insurance,
(Besides her kid was 21)
Paying off…
Working to pay off…
The hospital bill…
So her baby won’t have to start her life in the hole!
My friend,
There but for the grace of God…
In the larger scheme of things…
Could have been so much worse…
Could have been a tragedy…
SO LUCKY!
SOOOOOOOOOOOOO LUCKY!!!!!!!!!
Could have been so much worse…
Could have been a tragedy…
Only one baby…
Only one baby…
Only one baby.
If anything happens to that baby…
Why did I live my life the way I did?
Why did I choose her over me?
My baby!
Author: kathie
Melancholy…The Husband just left for a weeklong business trip
I hope that means we have a good marriage, that I am already sad, and The Husband hasn’t even made it to the airport yet.
Listening to NPR, conversation about an intriguing novel; “The Sorrows of an American”, tempted to buy it in hardcover.
Walking my Seattle friend to the subway after a lovely brunch at Red Bamboo, someone set out the almost brand new book “More Unequal, Aspects of Class in the United States” edited by Michael D. Yates. Of course I picked it up (to add to the clutter in the apartment) because it’s one of my issues.
I just joined the e-mail list for the McCain campaign, just because I’m curious. For issues and interests I checked Catholic and Environment/Energy and already I can’t remember the third thing I checked, maybe education. I’m curious to see what kind of e-mails I get. I am especially curious what the word “catholic” will spin out from the Republicans, mostly anti-abortion stuff I expect.
More process, finding a way to work.
I went to Clownlab today. Jef worked with us one at a time, and talked about developing individual processes and finding a way to work. We took turns improvising short scenes. Then Jef would have us do them again several times in order to clarify the movement and gesture until we got to the minimal objective elements. We want to transform reality before the eyes of the audience. The form and function of each object must be made clear.
He illustrated the process by drawing a circle and then adding random free association lines and curves until it became something recognizable, a bee or a flower or whatever. He said people have a tendency to overthink their pieces starting from an elaborate idea which then has to be broken down into it’s elements and built up again until it looks like something. To illustrate this he drew a scribble for the complex idea with arrows to a simple circle from which more arrows led to a flower representing the clear statement.
“As a person learning to create from inside of you, you must realize you will fail more than you succeed…You have to be absolutely vulnerable and fearless.” said Jef to the youngest person in the room.
Yeah…
On another front, I have decided what kind of music I want to use.
Sarah Palin
It took me a while to figure out what bothered me so much about McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, mother of 5. But, then it hit me. Her’s is the success story of Rush Limbaugh’s ideal woman who rides on her man’s boat, baiting his hook, holding his line and handing him the pole when there’s a bite. Then she admires his catch as he reels it in and hands him a cold beer to drink while she cleans the fish. When done correctly this technique can lead to a large house, children and jewelry (or perhaps a float plane.) Anyone who doesn’t see the mutual benefit in such a wholesome Christian relationship must be an over-educated bitter feminist lesbian.
The other thing I find disturbing is the apparent belief on the part of some Republican operatives that this will attract Hillary Clinton supporters to the McCain ticket. After all aren’t all women interchangeable. The ladies want to vote for a girl, how about this one. What is the difference between a hunting housewife from Alaska and a policy wonk from Yale Law School.
If you’re blogging about process and there’s not a performance involved you should shoot yourself
Tonight nothing is more important than electing Barack Obama president in November.
However,
My current task is to present a clown piece on September 11 (leaving plenty of time before November to work for Barack Obama.)
My head now is filled with the momentous Obama speech…
“In the words of scripture hold firmly to the hope that we confess” Don’t know what that means but it sounds pretty.”
And I’m thinking of using a Billie Holiday song….
So
Today has not been particularly productive.
There was a nice e-mail in the morning from Lorraine about playing and being on the same page.
My kid got up late and was cranky when she did.
I said “Hey it’s almost lunch time” and “Do you want to go to zoo?”
She cried.
She didn’t have any words so I assumed existential angst about the end of summer and start of the school year.
So I felt guilty.
We made scrambled eggs together using two pans, the regular one and her tiny single serving one.
Catsup.
We made art with a new set of stamps.
We played Junior Scrabble.
We went swimming at the Y (though we weren’t there earlier in the afternoon when Michael Phelps was!)
We hooked up with The Husband/Daddy
We went out for Thai food.
We were late getting home and missed part of Obama’s speech.
Tears during what I did see.
After the speech–It’s so shocking as the parent of an 8-year-old to see how much Malia Obama (just tuned 10 in July) has grown since he first declared in 2007. He started the campaign with two little girls and now he has only one little girl and one tween!
The CNN silence after the speech cameras finding shots of streamers hanging by a thread.
ROOSEVELT—KENNEDY—OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!
More Standardized Testing
It’s not much of a stretch to imagine that someone who identifies herself as a clown would not think much of standardized tests.
So it is not a stretch to imagine how appalled I am that Mayor Bloomberg has announced a pilot program including timed paper-and-pencil assessments for children as young as kindergarten. That’s insane. Children spend the year of kindergarten learning to sit in a chair without touching anybody else, how to transition to circle time, again without touching anybody else, at least not hard enough to knock them off balance. In addition they must practice standing in line without playing with the hair of the girl in front of them. There are other activities involving reading and math. But, learning to sit in a chair when the teacher says it is time to sit in a chair is the main objective of the average kindergartner.
My Kid is going into 3rd grade this year, the first year of high stakes testing in New York City. She has been aware of THE BIG TEST for months. She has thought long and hard, and has decided the best way to prepare for this public evaluation is to brush her hair everyday
I too am being mature about the test. My fantasy back up plan is to pull her out of school in January and put her on a plane to Montana so my brother can teach her to ski like her Idaho born cousins because that’s a learning deficit in my family.
However, I think My Kid is actually looking forward to the test and would be really upset if she missed it.
it’s about the performance no it’s about the process no it’s about the performance no it’s about the process no it’s about the performance no it’s about the process….
Left the apartment before 8:30 am got home just before 9:00pm (With My Kid every moment of the day–a work day–my work day–)
I woke up this morning feeling anxious about the piece.
Then I checked my e-mail.
There was an e-mail from Lorraine with specific questions about the puppets and time elements.
Then I was really stressed.
Fortunately I had a scheduled conversation with someone to talk about “My Process” (aghhh how pretentious.)
When at 10am I told My Kid we were going to take the subway to the next thing on the schedule she burst into tears. I thought my plans for the day were shot. But, then she calmed down and we got something to eat, and she agreed to go with me to Clownlab at Theatrelab after I told her I would get her some packaged art activities at Closeout Connection. And then we went to Barnes and Noble. And then she got a Happy Meal from McDonalds. Finally, she had enough payment up front to go with me and be a good girl with her Barbie magic notebook and her new markers in the corner of the studio while I “worked” (I do it though I don’t believe I’m working and so I don’t always make accommodations for myself).
It had occurred to me to arrange a playdate for my kid, but I had also scheduled a dental appointment for her late in the afternoon and if she had a playdate in Brooklyn, I would have had to leave the studio an hour early in order to take the subway to go pick her up and take her back into Manhattan to see the dentist. It wasn’t a big motivation since it would have added so much more travel and stress to my day and cut my studio time by one third, and the only thing significantly affecting her quality of life would be her boredom quotient. And there is an approach to parenting that says maybe she should be a little bored this week so she can be excited to go back to school next week. Anyway, I bought her stuff, bought her off, paid her up front, as it were, for good behavior and silence. (good yes, silent not so much)
It’s good, for people who go into the studio to practice acting like a child, to see how an actual child plays in the studio (So what she did was run in circles like a rabid dog when “nobody was using the space” because all we were doing was talking–I said, “That was part of the workshop too,” and she tilted her head and looked at me genuinely puzzled. It sure didn’t look like we were doing anything.
I felt better after talking through my piece with those other people in the studio. I was reminded that in a situation like this, it’s about the process, not about the product.
So for the next two weeks, I will record here in my blog, my process because it’s not about the product. It’s about the process.
To that end, I spoke to Lorraine on the phone and was comforted to realize that we are on the same page, and if we aren’t we trust each other to do our part. Part–of the process…
Rehearsal Schedule
I’m writing out my rehearsal schedule for the piece for the festival. I was feeling anxious because that is likely the only performance related thing I’ll do today. However, by writing it all out in colored markers, I see that there is plenty of studio rehearsal time for what I want to do. I booked more than enough (I hope). Because I booked time during school hours it felt easy–so I got extra. Lorraine and I should come out of this process with more material than we will show on September 11.
I still have to schedule one play date for My Kid and I need to book a babysitter for the night of the performance or The Husband won’t be able to see it.
I put the opening events of the New York Clown Theatre Festival on my schedule, but if The Husband isn’t back from the business trip, I’ll have to pay a babysitter in order to attend the free promotional events on September 5. Unless there is a sleepover invite… the first Friday of the school year might be a little too early for that…hmmm
Planning ahead is time-consuming.